Apparatus for making wood wool

ABSTRACT

In an apparatus for making excelsior, a shaving knife cooperates with an adjacent slitting knife so that their cutting edges are adjacent. The slitting knife consists of a tightly assembled stack of interleaved blades and washers, the ground cutting edges of the blades lying in a common plane extending obliquely to the cutting edge of the shaving knife. The cooperating cutting plane of the slitting knife and the cutting edge of the shaving knife extend in the same direction transversely across a wood log or board from which excelsior is made.

United States Patent Inventors Heinz Barke Felsenbochstrasae 18, 5904 Eiserield- Nledersclielden (Sleg);

Heiner Barlte, Weinweg 47, 84 Regensburg, both of, Germany Appl. No. 842,097

Filed July 16, 1969 Patented July 13, 1971 Priority Apr. 3, 1967 Switzerland 4694/67 Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 644,028, June 6, 1967, now abandoned.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING WOOD WOOL 8 Claims, 17 Drawingliy.

U.S.Cl. 144/186 lat. CL B271 11/04 Field oISear-cb 144/185,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,960,127 11/1960 Zimmerman 144/186 3,017,912 1/1962 Sybertz et al, .1 144/230 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,148,063 5/1963 Germany 144/185 Primary Examiner- Donald R. Schran Attorney- Kurt Kelman ABSTRACT: In an apparatus for making excelsior, a shaving knife cooperates with an adjacent slitting knife so that their cutting edges are adjacent. The slitting knife consists of a tightly assembled stack of interleaved blades and washers, the ground cutting edges of the blades lying in a common plane extending obliquely to the cutting edge of the shaving knife. The cooperating cutting plane of the slitting knife and the cutting edge of the shaving knife extend in the same direction transversely across a wood log or board from which excelsior is made.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING WOOD WOOL REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This is a continuation-in-part of our copending application Ser; No. 644,028, filed June 6, I967 now abandoned.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to apparatus for making wood wool or excelsior.

In apparatus of this type, a shaving knife and a slitting knife cooperate to slice thin wood shavings off a log or board of wood, with the slitting knife having a multiplicity of perpendicularly extending cutting blades to shread the transversely extending wood shavings into chips or fibers of a desired size. The knives are adjustable in relation to the workpiece to determine the desired thickness of the wood shavings, the distances between the stacked cutting blades of the slitting knife determining the thickness of the individual ships.

Conventional apparatus of this general type have had various shortcomings either in construction, assembly or operation, and it has been difficult accurately to determine the size of the produced excelsior. It is accordingly a primary object of this invention to overcome such disadvantages and to produce a simple and effective tool for making high-quality wood wool, reducing necessary adjustments to a minimum and making it very simply to replace worn cutting blades in the slitting knife.

The above and other objects are accomplished in accordance with the invention with an apparatus which comprises a knife holder including a plurality of separable knife clamping parts, and a wood-slitting knife removably clamped between these parts and extending in the knife holder in a transverse direction. The wood-slitting knife includes a multiplicity of like blades and like washers interleaved between adjacent blades. Each blade extends in a plane perpendicular to the transverse direction and has a ground cutting edge. The cutting edges of all the blades of the slitting-knife lie in a common plane extending in this direction and each of the ground cutting edges is perpendicular to this direction. Each of the blades and each of the washers defines a pair of bores extending in this direction, with the bores of the blades and the washers being in registration. Two slidably removable rods extend through the registering bores for holding the blades and washers in aligned position. A shaving knife having a cutting edge adjacent the common plane of the ground cutting edges of the blades extends in the same transverse direction, with the common plane of the cutting edges of the slitting blades being oblique to the cutting edge of the shaving knife.

According to one feature of the present invention, the wood-slitting knife further includes clamping bars extending in the transverse direction and holding the blades and washers in a tightly assembled stack. Each clamping bar has perpendicularly extending end lugs holding the blades and washers against movement in this direction. The width of the lugs is equal to the distance between the rods, and the rods project outwardly of the stack into engagement with the side edges of the lugs to hold the stack against movement in a direction perpendicular to the transverse direction in relation to the clamping bars. Preferably, the end lugs of one clamping bar overlap and engage the end lugs of the other clamping bar.

In such a slitting knife, the cutting blades need no adjustment since they are automatically aligned when. they are mounted on the pair of rods on which the stack of blades and washers is formed. If any individual cutting blade is damaged or has become dull, replacement is very simple. The slitting knife merely has to be removed from the knife holder in which it is removably clamped. One of the rods is pulled out until it no longer engages the blade or blades to be removed. This blade or these blades are then pivoted about the other rod, a new blade or new blades are inserted in their place, with one of their bores in registration with the rod that was previously pulled out, and the rod is pushed back into the stack to engage these registering bores so as to hold the new blade or blades in the stack. Now, the other rod is pulled out to release the old blade or blades, the new blade or blades are pivoted into alignment with the other rod, and the rod is pushed in again to hold the new blade or blades in position. The slitting knife is now ready to be inserted in the knife holder again, and to be clamped there into the desired position in relationto the adjacent shaving knife.

When it is desired to change the gage of the wood wool, the slitting knife may be replaced in the holder by one having a different spacing between slitting blades.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING The above and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of certain preferred embodiments thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein FIG. 1 is an elevational view showing a slitting knife according this invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an end view of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 4'and 4a are respective plan and side views of the slitting-knife blades of the knife of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4b shows a modified slitting knife blade in side view;

FIGS. 5 and 5a are respective plan and side views of the washers ofthe knife of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 6 and 6a are respective plan and side views of modified washers;

FIGS. 7 to 12 are plan view of various modification of slitting knife blades; and

.FIG. 13 is a sectional view of an apparatus for making wood wool or excelsior according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now to the drawing and first to FIGS. 1 to 3, there is shown a slitting knife for making wood wool or excelsior.

The slitting knife 10 includes a multiplicity of like blades 5 and a multiplicity of like washers 6 interleaved between adjacent blades. The blades and washers form a tightly assembled stack extending in one direction and each blade extends in a plane perpendicular to this direction. Each blade has a ground cutting edge 12, and the cutting edges of all blades 5 lie in a common plane extending in the direction of the stack, with each ground cutting edge being perpendicular to this direction. Each blade defines a pair of bores 7, 7 extending in this direction, and each washer defines a pair of like bores 8, 8 extending in this direction, with the bores of the'blades and washers being in registration. Two slidably removable rods 9, 9 extend through the registering bores for holding the blades and washers in aligned position.

In the preferred embodiment illustrated herein, the woodslitting knife further includes a pair of clamping bars 1, 2 extending in the direction of the stack of blades and washers to hold the same in a tightly assembled stack. Each clamping bar has perpendicularly extending end lugs 3 and 4, respectively, which hold the blades and washers-against movement in this direction. The width 0 of the end lugs is equal to the distance between rods 9, 9, as best seen in FIG. 3, and the rods project outwardly of the stack into engagement with the side edges 1 1, ll of the lugs so as to form retaining shoulders foretherods and to hold the stack of blades and washers against movement in a direction perpendicular to the elongationof the slitting knife. As shown,-the end lugs 3, 3 of clamping bar 1 overlap and engage the end lugs 4, 4 of clamping bar 2.

The blades may have various configurations and the ground and tapered cutting edges of the blades also may be arranged in variousdifferent manners. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 and the blades 5 arerectangular and the two opposing short sides as well as the two opposing longsides of the blades are ground cutting edges. As seen in the side view of FIG. 4a, the cutting edges 12 are ground only on one surface of the blade. In the modification of FIG. 4b, the'blade 5' has cutting edges 12' ground on both surfaces so that the edges are of triangular cross section forming a central peak.

The blade 5a shown in FIG. 7 has only one short side ground to form a cutting edge, the ground edge 12a extending obliquely to the two long sides of the blade. ln the modification of FIG. 10, one portion 12d" of the ground cutting edge of blade 5d is perpendicular to the adjacent long side of the blade while the remaining portion 12d encloses an obtuse angle with the adjacent long side.

The blade 5b of FIG. 8 is of parallelogram form and the two opposing short sides of the blade are ground cutting edges 12b. In the modification shown in FIG. 11, the diagonally opposing portions 12e of the short sides are perpendicular to the long sides of the blade 5e while the diagonally opposing remaining portions 12c of the short sides of the blade enclose an obtuse angle with the adjacent long side of the blade, the cutting edge portions 12e being parallel to each other.

Finally, blade 50 of FIG. 9 has obliquely extending cutting edges 120 at both short sides of the blade so that the blade has the form of a trapezoid. In the modification of FIG. 12, the blades Sfhave like opposing short sides ground to form cutting edges, longitudinally aligned opposing portions 12]" being perpendicular to the long sides of the blade while the aligned opposing remaining portions 12] of the sides enclose respective obtuse and acute angles with an adjacent long side of the blade.

Those modifications of blades having cutting edges ground on both short sides of the blade may be used again when one cutting edge has become dull, simply by turning the blade around in the slitting knife. This may be accomplished very simply by sliding the rods 9, 9 out of the bores 7, 7, turning the blade around and then reinserting the rods. lf blades are to be removed from the knife entirely, one rod is slid out from one bore, the blade is pivoted out of the range of this rod about the other rod, a new blade is inserted, the other rod, which served as a pivot, is removed, thus releasing the wornout blade, and the newly inserted blade is pivoted until its other bore is in registry with the pivot rod, which is thereupon inserted into the other bore.

Useful shapes of washers are shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. The washer 6 of FIG. 5 is rectangular and has two bores 8, 8. The washer platelet 6 of FIG. 6 has short ends of triangular cross section, the two obliquely extending portions of the short ends of the washer constituting advantageous guides for the wood chips being slit from the workpiece in the production of the wood wool.

An apparatus for making wood wool or excelsior, which incorporates a slitting knife as hereinabove described, is shown in H6. 13. In this apparatus, a workpiece 13 constituted by a wooden log or board is to be cut into excelsior. A shaving knife 15 is moved relative to the log 13 in the direction of arrow 14, with its cutting edge 16 extending transversely across the log or board to slice offa thin wood shaving 17.

The shaving knife is so assembled with the wood-slitting knife that the cutting edge 16 of the shaving knife is adjacent the common plane of the ground cutting edges 12 of the blades 5 of the slitting knife, the cutting edges of the stacked blades of the slitting knife lying in a common plane extending in this transverse direction across the workpiece 13. As is apparent from FIG. 13, the common plane of the cutting edges 12 of the slitting blades 5 is oblique to the cutting edge of the shaving knife. In this manner, the cutting edges 12 cut into the wood shaving 17 to produce a multiplicity of cut chips or fibers making wood wool. Obviously, the relative movement between the workpiece and the knife assembly may be produced by moving either the workpiece or the assembly in relation to each other.

The wood-slitting knife is removably clamped between separable parts ofa knife holder. The knife holder comprises a retaining part 18 whose shoulder 18' defines a recess with clamping part 19 which is bolted to the bottom of the retaining part by bolt 20. The mount for the slitting knife is clamped into this recess of the knife holder by tightening bolt 20 until clamping part 19 presses the mount against the shoulder 18 of retaining part 18.

The slitting knife mount also includes two clamped-together parts, ie a rail 21, which has an obliquely extending guide groove receiving the slitting knife 10, and a clamping plate 22 bolted to the rail 21 by bolt 23..lt is advantageous to permit the blades 5 of the slitting knife to rest on a resilient cushion 24 positioned at the bottom of the guide groove in rail 21 so that minor differences in the dimensions of the blades 5 in the slitting knife may be balanced out. It is also advantageous to be able to adjust the cutting height of the slitting knife in relation to the thickness of the wood shaving 17 by positioning the knife mount adjustably in the recess of the holder. For this purpose, the mount is carried by a setscrew whose adjustment varies the distance of the mount and the slitting knife it carries in relation to the workpiece.

ln assembling the slitting knife in the knife holder, the knife 10 is first properly adjusted in the mount 21, 22, and after the knife has been clamped in the mount, the latter is clamped between retaining part l8, l8 and clamping part 19 of the holder. After assembly, the height of the cutting edges of the slitting knife may be changed by operating setscrew 25.

We claim:

1. An apparatus for making wood wool or excelsior, comprising l. a knife holder including a plurality of separable knifeclamping parts;

2. a wood-slitting knife removably clamped between said parts and extending in said holder in a transverse direction, the wood-slitting knife including a. a multiplicity of like blades, each blade extending in a plane perpendicular to said direction and having a ground cutting edge, the cutting edges of said blades lying in a common plane extending in said direction and each of said ground cutting edges being perpendicular to said direction, and each of said blades defining a pair of bores extending in said direction,

b. a multiplicity of like washers interleaved between adjacent ones of said blades, each of said washers defining a pair of bores extending in said direction, the bores of the blades and washers being in registration, and

c. two slidably removable rods extending through the registering bores for holding the blades and washers in aligned position; and

. a shaving knife having a cutting edge adjacent the common plane of the ground cutting edges of the blades and extending in said transverse direction, the common plane of the cutting edges of the slitting blades being oblique to the cutting edge of the shaving knife.

2. The apparatus of claim I, wherein the wood-slitting knife further includes clamping bars extending in said direction and holding the blades and washers in a tightly assembled stack, each clamping bar having perpendicularly extending end lugs holding the blades and washers against movement in said direction, the width of said lugs being equal to the distance between said rods and the rods projecting outwardly of said stack into engagement with the side edges of the lugs to hold the stack against movement in a direction perpendicular to said transverse direction.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the end lugs of one of said clamping bars overlap and engage the end lugs of the other clamping bar.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said blades are rectangular and at least the two opposing short sides of said rectangular blades are ground cutting edges.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said blades are of parallelogram form and the two opposing short sides of the blades are ground cutting edges.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said blades have two like opposing short sides ground to form cutting edges, diagonally opposing portions of said short sides being perpendicular to the long sides of the blades while the diagonally opposing remaining portions of said short sides enclose an obtuse angle with an adjacent long side, the latter portions being parallel to each other.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein saidblades have like opposing short sides ground to form cutting edges, longituposing remaining portions of said short sides enclose respective obtuse and acute angles with an adjacent long side.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said blades have a short side ground to fonn a cutting edge, the ground edge exdinally aligned opposing portions of said short sides being per- 5 tending obliquely to the two 8 Sides of Said bladespendicular to the long sides of the blades while the aligned op- 

1. An apparatus for making wood wool or excelsior, comprising
 1. a knife holder including a plurality of separable knifeclamping parts;
 2. a wood-slitting knife removably clamped between said parts and extending in said holder in a transverse direction, the wood-slitting knife including a. a multiplicity of like blades, each blade extending in a plane perpendicular to said direction and having a ground cutting edge, the cutting edges of said blades lying in a common plane extending in said direction and each of said ground cutting edges being perpendicular to said direction, and each of said blades defining a pair of bores extending in said direction, b. a multiplicity of like washers interleaved between adjacent ones of said blades, each of said washers defining a pair of bores extending in said direction, the bores of the blades and washers being in registration, and c. two slidably removable rods extending through the registering bores for holding the blades and washers in aligned position; and
 3. a shaving kNife having a cutting edge adjacent the common plane of the ground cutting edges of the blades and extending in said transverse direction, the common plane of the cutting edges of the slitting blades being oblique to the cutting edge of the shaving knife.
 2. a wood-slitting knife removably clamped between said parts and extending in said holder in a transverse direction, the wood-slitting knife including a. a multiplicity of like blades, each blade extending in a plane perpendicular to said direction and having a ground cutting edge, the cutting edges of said blades lying in a common plane extending in said direction and each of said ground cutting edges being perpendicular to said direction, and each of said blades defining a pair of bores extending in said direction, b. a multiplicity of like washers interleaved between adjacent ones of said blades, each of said washers defining a pair of bores extending in said direction, the bores of the blades and washers being in registration, and c. two slidably removable rods extending through the registering bores for holding the blades and washers in aligned position; and
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wood-slitting knife further includes clamping bars extending in said direction and holding the blades and washers in a tightly assembled stack, each clamping bar having perpendicularly extending end lugs holding the blades and washers against movement in said direction, the width of said lugs being equal to the distance between said rods and the rods projecting outwardly of said stack into engagement with the side edges of the lugs to hold the stack against movement in a direction perpendicular to said transverse direction.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the end lugs of one of said clamping bars overlap and engage the end lugs of the other clamping bar.
 3. a shaving kNife having a cutting edge adjacent the common plane of the ground cutting edges of the blades and extending in said transverse direction, the common plane of the cutting edges of the slitting blades being oblique to the cutting edge of the shaving knife.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said blades are rectangular and at least the two opposing short sides of said rectangular blades are ground cutting edges.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said blades are of parallelogram form and the two opposing short sides of the blades are ground cutting edges.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said blades have two like opposing short sides ground to form cutting edges, diagonally opposing portions of said short sides being perpendicular to the long sides of the blades while the diagonally opposing remaining portions of said short sides enclose an obtuse angle with an adjacent long side, the latter portions being parallel to each other.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said blades have like opposing short sides ground to form cutting edges, longitudinally aligned opposing portions of said short sides being perpendicular to the long sides of the blades while the aligned opposing remaining portions of said short sides enclose respective obtuse and acute angles with an adjacent long side.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said blades have a short side ground to form a cutting edge, the ground edge extending obliquely to the two long sides of said blades. 